EVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: FLATBREADS RECIPE: FOUGASSE Fougasse is a stunning French Flatbread with a crisp crust and a slightly chewy crumb. Easy to make it is pronounced as ‘foogaas’. This flatbread actually quite famous in the Provence region of France. However, it is believed that the it originates from the Rome. Panis focacius the Roman flatbread was cooked in the ashes of a wood burning hearth called focus. What is Fougasse? Fougasse is patted with the hands into a leaf shape and then cuts are made to resemble the veins of a leaf. The open areas actually help the flatbread to bake well to achieve that crispy crust. Intially, I thought that shaping the bread and the recipe must be difficult.. like most…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: HEALTHY IDEAS RECIPE: CURRIED CHICKPEA STUFFED SWEET POTATOES Curried Chickpea Stuffed Sweet Potatoes is a healthy, delicious, filling and easy to make healthy, gluten free meal. Enjoy it for lunch or dinner and it is a perfect hot meal for the cold season. Basically, I prepare a thick chickpea curry and stuff baked sweet potato with it and serve with some plain thick yogurt. Actually, I love sweet potatoes whether they are the whitish oriental variety or the orange flesh ones. The Oriental variety is commonly available in Kenya and India. However, sometimes they are quite small and not really ideal to stuff them. Usually, those ones I bake or boil and enjoy with some salt, chilli powder and generous…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SUNDAY FUNDAY THEME: CHRISTMAS COOKIES AROUND THE WORLD RECIPE: KARACHI BISCUITS Karachi Biscuits are soft and melt in the mouth kind of cookies or biscuits. Easy to make, they are studded with tutti frutti and flavoured with cardamom and rose essence. Generally, these cookies are enjoyed throughout the year with a cup of masala tea. However, I love to make them for Diwali and Christmas. In fact, they are perfect to gift to friends and family. Why Are They Called Karachi Biscuits? To begin with these biscuits or cookies are not at all from Karachi. They are famous biscuits from Karachi Bakery that is located in the city of Hyderabad, India. As a matter of fact, Khanchand Ramnani, a Sindhi who migrated from Karachi…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SUNDAY FUNDAY THEME: MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM PARTY RECIPE: BEETROOT & CHOCOLATE MINI MUFFINS Beetroot & Chocolate Mini Muffins is a fun way to enjoy bite size soft, fudgy chocolate flavored beetroot muffins. Ideal for parties, topped with a cream cheese frosting, the muffins are so delicious. Adding cooked and pureed beetroot is a good way to sneak in this vegetable for kids. Use less of cocoa powder, omit yogurt and you land up with Beetroot Red Velvet Muffins without adding any artificial food coloring. This muffin recipe is without any eggs. We had a very small tea party with some of my neighbours and I baked these mini muffins. Sunday Funday Sunday Funday is a group of Food Bloggers. Every Sunday we share some…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: A- Z RECIPE CHALLENGE THEME : AN INGREDIENT BEGINNING WITH THE LETTER T RECIPE: ROASTED TOMATO & RICOTTA TOAST Roasted Tomato & Ricotta Toast is warm toast slathered with ricotta cheese and topped with garlicky roasted tomatoes. Perfectly enjoyable as breakfast, or served with some soup as a light meal option. Roasted Tomato & Ricotta Toast This one one of my favorite ways to enjoy fresh seasonal tomatoes. The first time I tasted roasted tomato & ricotta toast was as a brunch option in Montreal. On the side had poached eggs, some salad greens and roasted potato chunks. That brunch sat happily in my tummy till evening! I’ve tried this recipe with the normal big tomatoes roasted but it doesn’t taste the same. Got…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP THEME: #279 SESAME SEEDS RECIPE: ITALIAN SESAME SEED COOKIES/BISCOTTI REGINA Italian Sesame Seed Cookies Italian Sesame Seed Cookies/ Biscotti Regina, a classic Italian treat, so crunchy and lemony. These authentic Italian cookies are so easy to make. Originally called Biscotti Regina these cookies from the Sicily region make a good snack option. They can be served as dessert or with coffee. Translated, the name Biscotti Regina means Queen’s Biscuits. Crunchy outer because of the sesame seeds and a slightly soft center, these cookies are best enjoyed dunked in coffee, milk or tea. Biscotti Regina Unlike the more famous biscotti we know which are twice baked, Biscotti Regina are baked only once. How they originated is debatable. In this case, it is believed…
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Continue ReadingEggfree Wheat Christmas Cake Eggfree Wheat Christmas Cake is full of soaked dried and candied fruits, nuts and spices. A vegetarian friendly cake made without any eggs. Also, no alcohol is used to soak the fruit. A Christmas Cake that is incredibly easy to make, flavorful and moist. I’ve been baking Eggfree Wheat Christmas Cake for several years but till now, was not able to put the recipe on my blog. Just as well as over the years subtle changes has resulted in a foolproof recipe. The changes I made is is replacing all purpose flour with wheat, replacing white sugar with brown. The types of dried fruits and candied fruits vary every year, depending on what is available. And I love to use my…
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Continue ReadingTheme: Halloween Recipe: Witches’ Finger Breadsticks What are Witches’ Finger Breadsticks? Simply put Witches’ Finger Breadsticks are breadsticks that are shaped into witches’ fingers. These make a fun, spooky Halloween party treat, easy to make and healthy too. These breadsticks are not crispy and crunchy like the more famous Italian breadsticks or grissini. They are more like soft bread. Usually enjoyed with a dip. Halloween Theme You may be wondering why amid Navratri Festival I’m talking about witches’ fingers. Well, Swathi Iyer who blogs at Zesty South Indian Kitchen suggested that we make some Halloween treats as a group. I jumped at the idea as till now I don’t have a spooky Halloween treat post on my blog. This event has given me…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: CHOCOLATE Chilli Avocado Chocolate Cake: Vegan, fudgy, eggless and delicious, are the words to describe this incredibly easy to bake chilli avocado chocolate cake. If you’re a lover of avocado and chocolate like me then you’ll love this cake. Since I love the combination of chocolate and chilli, I decided to add a bit in the cake batter. The subtle taste of chilli, felt at the back of the throat is simply awesome. I followed the recipe for this from the blog I’m A Baker. Obviously, I halved the recipe (Amanda’s bake is huge!) and added chilli powder. I also used avocado chocolate frosting. A bit about the group: Members of this group give their partners two secret ingredients according…
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Continue ReadingEVENT:FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP THEME:#190 MINICAKES RECIPE: THANDAI MUFFINS Thandai Muffins baked with thandai spice mixture make a delicious treat for the Holi Party. Both kids and adults love them along with chilled thandai drink. Eggless, these muffins come together in no time. Bake them a day ahead, they stay fresh for a couple of days. Just before Holi, I had baked some thandai muffins to share with my neighbors. The recipe did not make it to the blog on time for Holi. I kept it in the draft file thinking that I’ll use it next year. Yeah, I know its a long time to keep it, but I’m quite good at storing stuff 🙂 FoodieMonday/Bloghop Theme When Preethi suggested a few themes for the #190, I opted…
